HMV Research - George

When looking round the HMV Store, we were set the task to of researching album covers of the genre that we had done for our music video ourselves which was indie bands(Alternative). The first album that I saw was Take That. The album had the band standing on telephone wires wire with a plain blue background, this stood out to me in many ways. The first way that i felt it was my favourite was the unusual image of the band grouped together standing on a telephone wire, this stood out to me straight away and is very eye-catching to buyers of cd's. Another

HMV Research- Jo

In HMV, we were set the task of researching different album covers within our genre. As there was no specific indie section, we had to conduct our research within the rock and pop section. Standing in front of a rack of cd's, our first task was to take a quick look and see which album caught our attention. The first album I was drawn to was 'Together We Were Made' by The Feeling. The bright red colours attract your eye instantly along with the white font on the black background. We may use the white font on a black background for our album cover because it is successful in drawing your attention to the CD.
The CD's are located at the very back of the store and spread through the whole width. The latest chart singles and albums are also positioned at the front side of the store so that, if you know you are looking for the latest releases then you know where to find them.


The music DVD's were located at the back of the DVD section towards the side of the store and were arranged alphabetically by the surname of the artist. Around 70 percent of the music DVD's were a recording of a live performance and the other 30 were mainly documentaries of the bands and their backstage antics. The purpose of a music DVD is mainly to show the performance of a band or artist and encourage people to go to their future concerts and buy their albums.

Overall, the most successful and eye catching album covers include bright colours and effective use of font.

We decided to film our research into album covers as a different way to present our work. In the video we look at different album covers within our genres and discuss the strengths that each cover has.

The Fly Magazine

The magazine we have chosen to publish our advertisement in, is 'The Fly'. This is a free music magazine that is published monthly in the United Kingdom and is distributed to record shops, bars and venues around the country. The magazine started as a listings leaflet but in 1999 it went national. The magazines circulation is around 104,568 and is published by the HMV owned MAMA Group.

Within the magazine there are review sections featuring new releases and live concert reviews. The remainder of the magazine is committed to articles and interviews with artists who are promoting new releases and tours. The Fly also features new bands, which is why we have chosen to use it for our poster. It has a history of supporting bands early, having given the likes of Razorlight, MGMT, Muse and Coldplay their first cover features.

 

Magazine History by George

1952:
In 1952 the first music magazine was published.

1960's:
In the 1960's the first musical press was made, this consisted of non critical output towards musicians and the arrival of the Beatles and the Rolling stones.

1970:
in the 1970's glam rock was made, this consisted of T-rex, Sweet, Mud and pink floyd. At this time music magazines became critical, NME changed its styles to meet the punk rock needs. melody maker was made to promote artists like the Police and Duran Duran, this was done through classified adds.

1978:

In 1978 smash hits was launched, this was a magazine that was aimed at a younger audience. From the making of this magazine style in pop became important than the content in the content independent labels wanted their own voice and produced fanzines.

1980's:
In the 1980's readers are deciding to abandon the magazine NME because it no longer writes about normal bands such as, Duran Duran.